Let's see those '09 gardens

[HK3-]

Hit the garden last night for a picking. Managed to pick 70ish Jalepenos, 1 habanero, 8 Italian burners, 6 cherry bombs, a sh-load of tomatoes, and a handful of cukes and zuccini.

Hit the store yesterday and picked up a 12 pack of quart sized jars. Managed to fill 8 of them with just hot peppers.

Everything is starting to peter out except the gourds and squash plants.

Some late arrivals.

The tobacco plants continue to seed themselves into other containers. I recently plucked another out and placed it into it's own container.



Here are two more that may or may not make a complete cycle this year but they certainly demonstrate the plants tenacity to carry on.





This years harvest while very limited continues to teach me about drying and curing.



For those that are interested in my adventures in making compost tea here is a photo of the new brewer I completed last week along with a link to a gallery of photos showing off it's new air injector design and functionality.



http://gallery.me.com/tzaddi#100687

It is great feeling to see everyones harvest, good job.

[HK3-]

You have the coolest setup and I get the feeling that you are like a mad scientist when it comes to making that "tea"!

I have an earthworm composter that is going full speed now. Many thousands of earthworms eating kitchen waste and paper turning it into rich castings. At the bottom of the composter is a drain for the liquor that is like tea but probably not as rich as the aerated stuff Richard makes.

The gopher ate almost all of my potatoes. I still have peppers, tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, all that squash and carrots producing. Onions aren't done 'till the end. The corn is finished and the cukes are not doing much any more. The birds eat the grapes as fast as they ripen.

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

I have an earthworm composter that is going full speed now. Many thousands of earthworms eating kitchen waste and paper turning it into rich castings. At the bottom of the composter is a drain for the liquor that is like tea but probably not as rich as the aerated stuff Richard makes.

I use vermi-compost in my AACT brewers, about 4 cups per 5 gallons. The leachate you get from the drain on your vermiculture bin(s) is very similar. The brewer simply takes the good microbes from the vermi-compost and creates a "party scene" with plenty of food (molasses, kelp. etc.), water & oxygen. This multiplies their numbers into the billions before they are distributed on the plants & soil. A brew usually takes 24-36 hours.

Man those worms must love this time of year when they get to chow down on garden harvest waste from pulled plants, etc.

[jjirons69]

Originally Posted by HK3-

Hit the store yesterday and picked up a 12 pack of quart sized jars. Managed to fill 8 of them with just hot peppers.

Hal, Walmart had a good supply of all sizes. Around $6 for a dozen.

[Mr B]

Richard, very cool set up you have there.

[HK3-]

Originally Posted by jjirons69

Hal, Walmart had a good supply of all sizes. Around $6 for a dozen.

[Rabidsquirrel]

Our potting adventures didn't turn out well, except for the cherry tomatoes. Billions of the little buggers. The cucumber produced a mediocre amount of cucs, about 7, and then got powdery mildew. The squash also got it and died before anything produced.

The only successes we had were the string beans, basil, mint, and cherry peppers. The CP plant is on its way out though, I didn't realize it didn't have any drain holes and it filled up with water from a storm. Various flowers did well, namely the Celosia jumping up to over 3 feet tall. I was hoping for more color variety though, only the red seemed to make it. The hummingbirds love it though.

[HK3-]

Still getting lots of peppers out of the garden. Picked up another flat of quart sized jars to fill. This is what I canned yesterday-



I also did two dozen jalepenos on the smoker yesterday. The method of stuffing them with cream cheese and wrapping them in bacon is #1 so far.

[shilala]

I might have told you about this already, Richard, but my neighbor used to keep a 55 gallon drum of moo juice between our gardens when I was a kid.
You just fill the drum with cow poop, add water, and enjoy.
It takes the mad scientist aspect out of it, but still cool.

I just took an updated garden video. Gonna upload it now and post the link when it's done.
It's in HD, so it'll take awhile.

[shilala]

Here's a link to see my garden the way she is today.

[G G]

Nice video Scott, and lookin good bro.

[HK3-]

Great video Scott! That fungus you spoke of wiped out my tomato plants in no time flat.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by HK3-

Great video Scott! That fungus you spoke of wiped out my tomato plants in no time flat.

I jumped on it early and saved half of my plants. I just picked two heaping five gallon buckets tonight, and not a soul in town has tomatoes. Literally.
If I continue to take care of them, and we get a week of heat, I should be able to get at least two more batches of spaghetti sauce.
I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner tonight, and with two big buckets of tomatoes in the kitchen, it wasn't too hard to figure out I was having tomato sammiches.

[MarkinAZ]

Thanks for the video tour of your garden Scott. Looks like you put in alot of effort on the black matte in the garden, but I'm sure it helps in retaining moisture for the plants. The tobacco plants look great on the border areas too

Another frikken gopher struck. This time it was starting on the carrots. Harvested them, about ten pounds. Traps are set. Die, gopher, die! No mercy.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by MarkinCA

Thanks for the video tour of your garden Scott. Looks like you put in alot of effort on the black matte in the garden, but I'm sure it helps in retaining moisture for the plants. The tobacco plants look great on the border areas too

The plastic is earth fabric called Dewitt Sunbelt. It lets water through and it lets air through, but it holds weeds down, holds moisture, and heats the garden. Last for years and years and years. I've never worn a piece out yet. It's easy to roll out and pin down. Almost effortless.
In the Spring I pressure wash it and the black cooks any soil-borne disease out of the dirt.
I've been using it for about 15 years. I have been no-till gardening for that long. I do a hybrid of square foot gardening/shilala gardening.
I use lots of compost, super absorbent polymer, and common sense.
You can't beat good dirt, though.
The dirt in my yard here in town (creek bottom flood zone) is incredible compared to the dirt on the hill where I used to live.

I've always wondered what the Indians thought when they watched the crazy Europeans building their settlements (that turned into cities) on the best farmland in the world.
Then we go cut down trees and grow food on mountaintops at twice the effort in lousy soil.
There's no substitute for stupidity.

[G G]

Originally Posted by shilala

I jumped on it early and saved half of my plants. I just picked two heaping five gallon buckets tonight, and not a soul in town has tomatoes. Literally.
If I continue to take care of them, and we get a week of heat, I should be able to get at least two more batches of spaghetti sauce.
I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner tonight, and with two big buckets of tomatoes in the kitchen, it wasn't too hard to figure out I was having tomato sammiches.

My partner here at work grew some of the best tomatos last summer that I have ever had. I bet we ate 1000 tomato sammiches.

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Die, gopher, die! No mercy.

Got it! Dead, gopher, dead! I had mercy. It was still alive so I put it out of it's misery.

Next year I want to put down a weed block like Scott's but I worry about the gophers setting up camp under it.